


Scarlet Season

by OfButtsAndBombs



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: A Little Fall of Rain, Autumn, B99 Fall 2019 Fic Exchange, F/M, Future Fic, Jake Peralta is Bad at Feelings, Light Angst, Oaths & Vows, Parents Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 08:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21115754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfButtsAndBombs/pseuds/OfButtsAndBombs
Summary: It's autumn and school has just begun, the weather is cooler, summer is long gone, Amy's always cold again, Jake is singing Sweater Weather, the kids just want to jump in puddles and leaves and generally make messes, and Karen and Roger decide to renew their vows.





	Scarlet Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meepmorpperaltiago](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meepmorpperaltiago/gifts).

> This is for @meepmorpperaltiago !  
Based on the prompt "Jumping in Leaves" (which was also the working title)  
-Hi! I hope you like it ! You're one of my favorite b99 writers, I was so excited when I got you! 
> 
> To everyone reading:  
Thank you! I really hope you enjoy the read! 
> 
> 1\. I live in the tropics, where there is only one season - HUMIDITY. So I tried to keep weather descriptions to a minimum, because writing about cool weather whilst being sweaty makes me wistful.  
2\. I love writing angsty Jake, I just think Andy does Angst so well, or mayne that's just my crush on him speaking.  
3\. I don't think Karen and Roger would (or should!!!) get married again, but I thought, the weather is going to be gloomy, what would make Jake most gloomy?  
4\. About Fall: I've spent three Falls in New England as a kid, and I opened my childhood diary to see if I'd written anything about fall, and it says 'I like autumn because school started and Mrs.Sheppard is very nice.'  
5\. If there's any takeaway from this note, it's that I was, am and will be, a Big Ol' Nerd.  
6\. Bye! Watch B99.
> 
> And and and:
> 
> ARE WE GETTING A PERALTIAGO BABY IN 2020 ?!?!?!?!?!? January cannot come fast enough!!!😭😭😭

"It's a _'recommitment',_" Amy emphasizes.

"It's a steaming pile of bullcrap, that's what it is," Jake grumbles.

Amy rolls her eyes without looking up from her crossword. 

The minute they got the news, her first thought was _Uh-oh._  
Jake was _not_ going to take this well.

She can't blame him though, she's not completely sold either. But who is she to judge weird family members? Her own brother had once announced to the entire family that he had an open marriage and then propositioned their cousin for a threesome.  
While completely sober.

Even that story wouldn't console Jake now, she thinks with a sigh, finally looking up from the newspaper to see her husband lying on his front, next to her on the bed, face in his hands, sighing exaggeratedly. She puts down the paper and starts tracing circles on his arms with the back of her pencil. 

"Jake..."

He grunts.

_Oh, come on._ "Jake!"  
He sulked exactly like their toddler, a fact which both amused and infuriated Amy.

"What!" he snaps.

She takes a deep breath before she begins. "I know, this, this is, umm-"  
She's lost there. What _was_ this? Funny? Not to Jake. Scary? Not really. Crazy? _Definitely,_ but she's not going to say that to _Jake. _  
"-out of the blue, but they're adults, capable of making their own decisions, and I'm sure they've thought this through!"

Jake uncovers one eye to stare at her, rather incredulously. "I'm sure they thought it through the first time, and how did that work out?"

"Well, maybe they didn't think it through, then! And anyway, people change. I mean, look at us. We started dating after nearly five years of working together. Maybe if we'd started dating immediately after we'd met, it wouldn't have worked out, because-"

He sits up at that. "Hey! Don't you dare compare us to them!" He says 'them' like it's a dirty word, poison on his tongue. He lies down again, this time with his back to Amy.

"Jake," Amy says in a gentle tone, because she can see he's actually much more affected by this than he's letting on, which is saying something. "Babe, I get it, it's surprising and maybe slightly upsetting, but honey, they're happy! They really look happy. And isn't that what's important?"

Jake snorts. "I would've cared more about their happiness if _he'd_ ever cared about _mine_." He pushes his head under the pillow, and after 8 years of marriage, Amy knows this is a signal that he's done talking. So she just lays down next to him, and listens to his breathing even out till he finally goes to sleep. 

\---------------------------‐----------

They don't talk about it again, Jake pointedly ignoring Amy whenever she brings it up, until Karen ends up in their apartment the next week to formally invite them. 

"How's he taking it?" She asks Amy under her breath. Jake had immediately gone 'to the bathroom' when he saw Karen on their doorstep. 

"Um, he'll come around eventually," Amy answers. It's a lie, but she can't exactly say 'He's devastated and has been moping all week.'

Karen sighs and rubs her face. Amy suddenly feels a pang of sympathy for her mother-in-law.  
She hasn't had the easiest life, and now when things are looking up, Jake has to go and be difficult.

But then she also feels a stab of protectiveness towards Jake - it isn't his fault, obviously the news is upsetting, and doesn't the man deserve a break?

"I have to go and run some errands," Karen says, putting her coffee mug on the table and not on the coaster that Amy had pointedly put down in front of her.

"What, leaving already?" Her fingers itch with the effort of restraining them from picking up the mug.

While Karen goes to the say goodbye to the kids, Amy bangs on the bathroom door. 

"Jake, you're being rude! At least come and say bye!"

"I'm pooping, Amy, go away!" 

Amy rolls her eyes and opens the door. He's sat on the toilet with the lid closed, playing Angry Birds. 

She grabs his collar and drags him to the living room, turning a deaf ear to his protests.

\----------------------------------‐------‐------

Four weeks later, the small family is loading up the car as they prepare to drive upstate for the ceremony. 

Fall is setting in, and the ground is damp with the rain that fell last night, taking away the summer heat with it. 

Amy is trying in vain to stop her daughters from jumping in the puddles. They'll ruin their shoes, and get mud everywhere, and they have a five hour car ride, something that she is NOT looking forward to. Jake is not being much of a help, grumbling and muttering as he wipes pigeon shit off the windshield aggressively.

"Jake. Jake!"

He looks up with an annoyed expression that immediately changes to guilt when he sees Amy juggling a baby carrier, two bags in one hand and with the other hand, trying to drag Clementine away from the puddles. 

"Ah, shoot, sorry babe." He gathers Clem in his arms and hustles Julie into the car, drowning out their protests with promises of bigger puddles where they were headed. 

"I think I should drive," Amy sighs.

"Sorry, Ames," he says again, when they're finally settled in the car, and Amy is fiddling with the AC vents. "Got caught up in my head a bit there."

"I didn't even notice," she says sardonically.The only reason she isn't furious at him is because she knows he is never this distracted when they are out with the kids - she's usually the one caught daydreaming. He is otherwise so present, always so hands-on. She knows it's a hard day for him, and she's trying her best to be supportive, but _she's_ the one who will have to clean the car if it gets muddy.

The ride is uneventful by their usual standards. There is only 1 vomiting episode, 2 cases of 'Mama I need to pee' and 3 crying fits because someone wasn't sharing the iPad. 

Jake relaxes into the habitual rhythms soon enough, the familiarity of crazy full-family car rides lulling him into a false sense of security, temporarily distracting him that he was going to his _tragically divorced parents' second wedding ceremony._

He pulls funny faces at the kids, sings along loudly to Carly Rae Jepsen and passes Amy fruit slices, feeding her when she cannot take her hands off the wheel. 

Amy for her part is silent, caught between concentrating on the road and worrying about Jake. She knows his self-destructive tendencies, knows how he'll tamp down a problem until it turns inwards and eats him up. All the while, on the outside he'll be putting on a puppet show for the kids, or helping her study, or - 

"Aaaaaaaaames. Ames?"

"Hmmm what?" She asks distractedly.

"I hope it was the road you were concentrating on so passionately." He chuckles softly, giving her a knowing look. He knew her just as well she knew him.

"I think we're almost here," he whispers, looking to the backseat to make sure the kids were still asleep. "Just this right here and up that hill."

Amy shakes herself out of her reverie and puts on the turn signal, bracing herself for the drama of the next two days. If Jake notices the way her fingers clench on the steering wheel, he says nothing about it.

\-------------------------------------------

Jake avoids her gaze carefully, looking anywhere but in her general direction. He chats a bit too loudly with the receptionist, makes exaggerated conversation with Jules, and when Charles calls, spends an entire twelve minutes complaining about the damp weather.

Amy's been giving him 'looks' for a _month_, and he knows the only way to stop that is to talk to her. But he won't. He _can't._ Talking about it will make him _think_ about it, and God knows he doesn't have the time or energy for falling down _that_ rabbit hole again.

_"Why now?" _ Is the question swirling through his mind.  
_Why_ does his dad suddenly want to get married, at nearly 70 years old?  
Why not when Jake was 7, reeling from overhearing a terrible argument, with fists being slammed on tables and objects being thrown?  
Why not when Jake was 11, all alone on Thanksgiving day, scouring the kitchen for something edible and wondering if the green stuff on the bread was supposed to be there? (He got food poisoning.)  
Why not when Jake was 16, nicking himself when he shaved for the first time, nearly passing out from seeing the blood on his face, dripping over his bare chest?  
Why not when he was 22, graduating from college, watching everyone else take pictures with their parents? (His mom was sick and his dad was AWOL.) 

Why did he come back, when Jake was just starting to pull himself together, getting the job of his dreams and the girl of his dreams and the life he thought he would _only ever dream_ of?

He's rummaging through his bags for something, muttering under his breath. "Ames, did you see my - uh oh. What? "

"What?" She replies innocently.

He straightens up and puts his hands on his hips "That look. What do you want to say?"

"Uh, about lunch-"

He rolls his eyes, waiting.

"Fine! Jake, about this! About the wedding!"

He shrugs nonchalantly. "What about it?"

Amy gapes at him. "Well, what you feel about it!"

His smile is pained and it causes something inside Amy to break. "How does it matter what I feel about it? It's happening, it's been decided."

She almost sputters with indignation. "Hey! Jake, if it's making you _this_ upset, _of course_ it matters! It matters. Babe, I just want you to-"

"Amy. You know how I feel. What good will discussing it do? It'll just make us both upset and ruin our mood. Let's just enjoy the vacation that my parents have sponsored for us with my cheating dad's cheating pilot money..."

"Jake..."

"I'll get over it, Ames. I always do."  
He sighs. "I'm taking the girls to play in the park."

Amy opens her mouth to protest the abrupt change in topic, but stops herself when she sees his face. She recognizes defeat when she sees it. "Okay. Sure. Don't let them get too muddy! I'll bring Ollie down, when he's done with his feed, and then we can meet with your parents..."

Just like that, they're back to Everyday-Jake-and-Amy, parents of three and Lazy Cooks extraordinaire.

\------‐------‐-------------------------------------

_Another year, another fall. Another halloween heist, another Thanksgiving turkey(s)._  
Jake has seen 44 New England autumns, at least 37 of which he has spent resenting his father in some way or the other. But time had taken some of the edge off of the bitterness, so that the ache of abandonment had mostly faded away to a dull background noise.  
Yet it was always there, lurking in the shadows. And today, he feels it more than ever. _'What if?'_ his brain starts thinking. _What if his father had stayed? What if he'd never acted out in school, his parents never met the counselor, his mother blissfully unaware of her husband's straying gaze? What if one of his planes had crashed and he'd died? What if what if what if what if _

"Jake?"

The voice of the man he hates the most right now, startles him out of his gloomy wondering, and he immediately feels his shackles go up. 

"D'you think Amy would be okay with that?" Roger says with a chuckle, pointing his chin towards where Clem and Jules were trying to wiggle their way into the hollow of a large tree. Jake could already imagine the cobwebs and pieces of moist bark stuck in their wild dark curls. 

He feels that stab of supreme annoyance that only his father can elicit in him, and he balls his hands into fists in his pockets.

"They're kids." He says through gritted teeth. "That's what they do. Not that _you_ would know."

"Jake-" 

"Did you just come here to appraise my fathering skills? Because, boy, do I have some news for you-" 

And then he sets off towards the girls, because no, Amy would not be okay with that.

To his utter dismay, the crunch of leaves behind him tells him that Roger is following, and he quickens his pace, just to be spiteful. 'Very mature, Peralta.' A voice says in his head. It sounds awfully like Captain Holt's. 

"Clem, Jules, get out from there!"

Jules immediately crawls out, wiping her hands upon her pants. Jake groans as he sees the mud stains. "Daddy, we lost Owly in there!"

"How did Owly even get in there?" He affixes them with a stern look, watching Jules trying to drag out Clem. 

"Owly!!" Clem cries, trying to fight off her sister. She hasn't learnt to recognize her parents 'you're in trouble' voices yet. At least they aren't powerful enough as the loss of her precious toy, abandoned in the hollow of a tree.

Jake sighs as he walks to the tree. He picks up Clem and sets her aside, crouching in front of her to wipe her face and grubby little hands.

"Dadda,but Owly!" She insists, and Jake recognizes the tell-tale lip tremble. He crawls into the musty space to find the toy. He finds the bespectacled bird staring up at him from a pile of leaves that look like they have been fashioned into a bed.

Jake snorts. "Lost Owly, my ass," he mutters. His girls were getting smarter by the day. 

He comes out to find them staring at something in Roger's hand. 

"Girls, it's time to go." He says sharply. It's petty of him,_ he knows_. But isn't it his duty as a dad, to protect his children from harm? And what if they got too attached to his dad, and he pulled a classic Roger and upped and left? Who would explain to these innocent little souls, that their grandfather was a lying, cheating, bag of scum? 

For Jake, it had been his Nana. His mom had been a mess for days. His father was, of course, MIA, but then he always left for his flights for days at a time, so nothing was out of the ordinary there. 

Nana had given him a popsicle, and said ,"Pineapples, your mom and dad are divorcing. Do you know what a divorce is?" (He did. Gina had explained it to him, and though she made it sound like it made sense, little Jake never understood. How could anyone fall out of true love? The bliss of childhood naivety! ) 

And thus began the Daddy issues.

\----------------------------------

The morning of the ceremony arrives, crisp and cool. Amy shudders and pulls the blankets closer when a gust of wind blows through the open balcony door- 

_Why was the balcony open?_ She raises her head with a frown, blinking in the weak light to find Jake out there, staring glumly into the sky, which was as grey as his mood. 

"Jaaaaaake!" She hisses, as softly as she can so as to not wake the children, but sharp enough to bring her husband back to earth. He turns towards her slowly.

"Come back to bed and close the door, it's cold!" 

She tries to convey this via a mix of gestures and hisses, but he seems to understand, rolling his eyes and walking towards her. 

When she feels the bed dip, she gravitates towards his warmth, curling around him. He places a heavy hand on her thigh as she snuggles in deeper. 

"It won't be that bad, Jake." She whispers into his neck. He chuckles. Her voice is too sleep-laden for serious talk. 

"No, of course it won't be that bad, because it's going to be _terrible._"

Amy sighs. "Well, all you need to do is concentrate on Jules and Clemmie and make sure they don't jump around and get dirty. And they're going to look so adorable in their dresses! And they have this whole flower girl choreography thing planned with Karen-" 

Amy's voice trails off and Jake struggles to find words to reply. He remembers the day he came home from work to find everyone missing. When Amy returned with the kids and a buttload of shopping bags to tell him they'd gone _wedding shopping, _ he'd struggled to control his anger.

("Why are you being so damn enthusiastic about this?" Jake hissed at her. "I thought you didn't even like my parents!"  
_"What the hell? _I never said that, Jake!" She smacked him on the shoulder, hard. She added in a softer voice, "Maybe I just resent them for all the abandonment issues they left you with, but c'mon Jake, you know I how much I love Karen! She's helped so much with the kids, and- and look- it's not like they're getting legally married or having a honest-to-goodness wedding or anything. It's just a vow-renewal-thingy!"  
Jake gagged.) 

They'd bought the girls matching dresses, brown and made of tulle and georgette, floaty around their tiny ankles, adorable as expected, and as Jake helps Jules put on her matching shoes, he finds himself thinking this might not be a completely horrid day at all. 

Ollie is in a tiny tux, one that looks exactly like a miniature version of Jake's. It's so dang _cute,_ even though he keeps pulling at it like it's strangling him.

His heart _explodes_ when he sees his three kids, awkwardly, impatiently posing for photos. They look so adorable that he could cry, and sure enough there are tears pricking at his eyes. He picks Ollie up and holds the girls close and makes Amy take a gazillion pictures. She acquiesces with a knowing look.

\----------------------------------------------‐-

"Sorry, sorry, I hope we aren't too late!" Amy apologises fervently as they make their way into the gazebo in the garden where the 'thing' (as Jake has taken to calling it) is happening. 

Karen waves away her apologies with a flourish of her bouquet. "Don't worry about it, it's hard to get three kids ready so early in the morning-" 

There are a lot of things wrong with that statement, but Amy holds her tongue and responds with an apologetic smile. First of all, it's not that early, it's _eleven o' clock_, and second, her kids were the _least_ of her problems that day. 

No, it was her husband that she had to coax out of the room with promises of candy and toys. ( i.e. kisses and well, candy.)

~45 minutes ago~

"Jake, honestly, can't you mope downstairs? They'll be waiting for us!"

He looks up, and Amy bites her lip. She has never seen him look so lost. 

"Why is he doing this, Amy?"

Jake thought he was over his dad leaving, for the most part. He hardly thought about it now, his mind always full of bigger, better, more important things, and yet his dad wormed his way into Jake's thoughts in a way that drove him crazy.

He thought of the day when Julie was born, pink and bald and wrinkly. Helpless and at the mercy of adults. He remembers holding _his child_ for the first time, a baby _he'd helped to make_, and all he could think was _how tiny_ she was, maybe only half the length of his forearm! She looked at him with unfocused eyes and clasped his thumb with all five minuscule fingers and Jake idly wondered how his father could ever abandon a child. 

"Jake....I don't know why. Maybe if you talked to him-"

"No need." He sneers.

"Well, then-"

"I keep thinking, it's my fault! They were fine till they had a kid, and he leaves, and comes back when I'm not a kid anymore. I mean c'mon, that means-" 

"That means nothing except that your dad was an asshole who became less of an asshole as he grew old. Don't try to 'solve' this, Jake! This is not a case, honey, people are more complicated." 

She plops down into the bed, next to him, and rubs his back soothingly. He leans into her and groans into her hair. 

She takes his face into her hands and kisses him, slow and deep, until they're both breathing quite heavily. 

"It is not your fault, Jake." She says, rubbing off her lipstick that has now smeared over his lips.(_Smudge-proof, what a lie._) "That is on him, and no one else. _Please_ stop doing this to yourself. You deserve better." 

\---------------‐-------------------------------

The ceremony is over. It was chill, mostly. His dad's vows are mostly full of jokes on how this was a 'second chance' and his mother's made of light-hearted jabs.  
They do get a bit emotional at the end and he thinks he sees Amy blink back a few tears. His eyes remain dry.

The newly-avowed Roger and Karen Peralta kiss and hug when they are done a-vowing, and a grinning Amy pokes Jake when he pulls a face at this. Steve-who taught-him-to-shave lets out a whoop and one of the Lesbians-from-across-the-street- (They're called Hermione and Leena, and they're very nice and they somehow _like_ the moniker bestowed upon them by Karen) - puts two fingers up to her mouth to whistle loudly, startling Ollie and making Jules cackle. (Julie will pester Leena into teaching her how to do this, and will subsequently annoy Amy with all her shrill practicing.) 

None of his half-siblings are here, not that Jake is surprised. He'd made contact with them, slowly, over the years, to find that not many were enthusiastic to meet Roger's only legitimate child. 

Roger and Karen slink off to their room for some 'alone time' before the Reception Lunch that they're hosting. Jake doesn't even try to hide how _grossed out_ he is at this. 

Jake and Amy decide to wait in the park, to tire the kids out so they would sleep on the car ride back home. They watch, his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist, as the girls fill their arms with leaves in various hues of red and yellow, to deposit them on a much larger pile.

"Do you think we can get them to clean yards this autumn, earn a few bucks?" Jake jokes as he watches them inspect the pile. Seemingly satisfied with the size, they jump into it with squeals and shrieks, leaves flying everywhere. 

"Hey!" Amy laughs and pinches his arm, though she does add, "Maybe next year, when Julie can hold a rake without losing balance." She giggles. 

Jake smiles at her to find her eyeing his blazer longingly. There's a lingering chill in the air.  
He rolls his eyes and shrugs it off.

"Awww, babe, thanks, you know me so well." She teases as she hands Ollie over to him while she puts the blazer on. Their give-me-your-jacket dance is well practiced, what with Amy being perpetually cold and Jake having a propensity for wearing multiple layers. They don't even talk about it, the exchange happening as smooth as a well-oiled machine. "I'll mention this in our vows when _we_ re-do them."

"Fine, but we aren't doing it in a _gazebo_."

"Well, well, well! Whatever happened to Mr. 'I will marry you in a dumpster'?"

"He had kids and now appreciates the finer things in life," Jake mutters under his breath, causing Amy to break out into peals of laughter. He squeezes her hip, tries to tell her with touch what he can't say with words. She smiles as she leans into his touch, reveling in the calm they're both feeling after a long, tumultuous month.

"How many times are they going to do this?" Amy mutters to Jake, finally breaking the silence, watching as _yet_ another pile is made and jumped on.

"Three, maybe four more times? The final piles are getting smaller, that means they're getting impatient," Jake analyses.

Ollie, who has been quietly staring at his sisters having the time of their lives, now points a finger in their direction and gurgles resolutely, arching his body forward, so that Jake has to lurch forward to prevent him from leaping out.

Much to the delight of their daughters, they walk towards the under-construction pile, and when the girls give the signal, all five of them jump into it, Ollie giggling hysterically at the leaves fluttering around him, waving his pudgy fists around, trying to grab them.

For the first time that weekend, Jake truly relaxes. 

Maybe he'd never really understand why his dad left, or why he came back.

But he realises with a pang, he doesn't really need the answer.

Its Life and Things happen, his Nana used to say. We can't stop them, we have to deal with them in the best way we know how - 

And as Jake takes in the scene before him - Clem picking up leaves in her favorite shade of red, Jules trying to cartwheel into the pile of leaves, Amy half-heartedly chiding them about getting their clothes dirty, and tiny Ollie, who was - "Ollie, yucky, get that leaf out of your mouth!" 

\- he realised that his best was _pretty awesome._

( "Jake, just take the leaves from his hand!"  
"Dadda, dadda - watch!!"  
"Clem, that leaf has a worm on it!!"  
"Dadda, did you see! Did you see my cartwheel?"  
"Mumma- so many red leaves!"  
"Yeah I saw, sweetie, be careful!"  
"Dadda, watch _again!_")

_Yeah_. Pretty freaking darn good.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading! Have an amazing festive season! ❤❤  
-A.


End file.
